ATLANTA --- Chattanooga volleyball got off to a perfect start to their 2023 season on Friday, as the Mocs swept through their first two matches at the GSU Invitational to open the year a perfect 2-0.
The Mocs (2-0, 0-0 SoCon) kicked off their season and tournament with a 3-0 statement win over New Orleans (1-1, 0-0 Southland) before taking care of business against South Carolina State (0-2, 0-0 MEAC) with yet another 3-0 scoreline. Powered by veteran leadership as well as a batch of fresh faces that made their UTC debuts on Friday, the Mocs will now look to carry their momentum from the opening day into tomorrow's tournament finale.
"We just did a really great job at staying really disciplined and focused on our gameplan today," head coach Julie Torbett said. "That's going to be key for us. The maturity of this team and having players that have been in these situations before is one of our biggest strengths this year moving forward."
To open 2023, the Mocs started their tournament off by taking on New Orleans in the early slate on Friday. This marked the very first time that the Mocs and Privateers have ever met on the volleyball court.
Chattanooga controlled the match right from the start, as the UTC squad showed minimal offseason rust as they captured a 25-16 first-set victory.
Heading into the second set, the Privateers showed that they weren't going to just roll over to the Mocs. The lead would swap hands a total of eight times in set two, with both teams jockeying for an important set victory. Facing a 20-22 deficit to UNO, Chattanooga saw offense generated by many different Mocs to help close the gap and ultimately take set two, 25-23.
With the wind at UTC's back, the Mocs kept their foot on the gas through the third, at one point going on a 10-0 scoring run before eventually closing the door on New Orleans by a score of 25-15 to claim the 3-0 sweep to open the tournament.
"We did a great job spreading the offense around and finding who was on today," Torbett said. "Morgan (Romano) obviously came to life and showed what she can be capable of, and that's amazing because we're going to have players that struggle sometimes or have tougher matchups and this team is deep enough to make up for that."
The Mocs saw multiple players log strong performances including Elaine Redman tallying a double-double consisting of 36 assists and 15 digs, both team-highs, alongside Marcelle Baez-Carlo's four blocks. New transfer addition Morgan Romano put on an offensive masterclass for Chattanooga, slamming home 19 kills to pair with her 10 digs on the defensive side of the ball.
"Coming into this team and being new but being older, I still wanted to have a role of my teammates being able to look up to me as one of the veteran players on this team," Romano said. "I want them to know I can put a ball away, and I lead by example so today was hopefully just the beginning of that."
Even more of note was fellow graduate student, Gylian Finch. After a year away from the team, Finch not only made her return to the Mocs lineup but made history as well. With her 12-kill performance against the Privateers, Finch surpassed the 1000-kill mark in her UTC career, becoming just the 10th Moc in program history to do so.
"I knew I needed eight kills coming into today, but I honestly didn't count or even think about it during the match," Finch said. "I feel very honored to be a part of such a short list that has been able to do that. It isn't an easy thing to do, but at the same time I'm not really focused on those individual stats or milestones for myself."
"I'm just so proud of her, she's such a tremendous player," Torbett said. "She kept herself fit and to be at the level where she was even able to come back is amazing. Not many people can do that after a year off."
Riding the momentum of a season-opening win against New Orleans, the Mocs would have a few hours to regroup before meeting with South Carolina State for their second match of the day. Looking to move to 2-0 on the day, the Mocs had a date with the Bulldogs.
Not overlooking a scrappy SCSU team, the Mocs didn't let up in their matchup with the Bulldogs. UTC went on multiple scoring runs to run through the opening set, with the largest being a 10-0 run by the Mocs. The run was capped off by Elaine Redman, who strung together back-to-back aces to close out the first set 25-12 in favor of the Mocs.
"I just kept getting more confident as I was serving and then Coach T (Torbett) directed me to attack a gap that they had, so I did," Redman said. "It was game point, so you know I had to go for it."
From there, the Mocs continued to dominate their match against the Bulldogs. In set two, Chattanooga would once again capture a 25-12 victory to increase their lead to 2-0.
With the end in sight, UTC relied on its deep bench to close out the remaining set, 25-16. Once the dust had settled, the Mocs had secured yet another 3-0 sweep.
Morgan Romano once again led the Mocs with 11 kills, while Elaine Redman logged team-highs in assists (26), blocks (3) and aces (3). Junior libero Paige Gallentine finished her match leading the team in digs with 13.
"It was just a really good team win for us against South Carolina State," Redman said. "Our passing was good, everything was clicking and we didn't just have to go to one person to find our offense. It was just a well-rounded team win."
Amongst the numerous Moc debuts on the day was Caiti Barthel, the lone freshman that saw some action in Atlanta. A native of Indianapolis, Indiana, Barthel finished her first day of collegiate volleyball with a combined 19 digs, two assists and one ace across the two matches.
"We talk a lot about how old this team is and it's a lot to live up to, but honestly it's just a privilege to play with these girls," Barthel said. "We're all just so competitive and want the same thing, so I'm just happy I get to be a part of that."
UP NEXT
The Mocs will now look to close out the GSU Invitational against tournament host Georgia State (2-0, 0-0 Sun Belt) on Saturday, with the match winner earning the tournament title. Both teams were able to go undefeated on Friday, setting up a clash of 2-0 teams at GSU Sports Arena. The match is scheduled to take place at 2 p.m. ET and is free to the public.
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